cultivarvscultivosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cultivar is a verb, cultivos is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cultivar” is a verb and “cultivos” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,271
“cultivar” frequency rank
#5,710
“cultivos” frequency rank
14981
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cultivar cultivos
Definition Trabajar la tierra para obtener productos agrícolas con mayor rendimiento del que dan naturalmente Forma del plural de cultivo.

Where the eye mixes cultivar and cultivos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. cultivar and cultivos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
cultivar
8 ch
cultivos

Why the eye confuses cultivar with cultivos

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cultivar is [kul̪t̪iˈβ̞aɾ] while cultivos is [kul̪ˈt̪iβ̞os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cultivar is recorded at frequency rank #9,271, classified as averb, pronounced [kul̪t̪iˈβ̞aɾ]. cultivos is at rank #5,710, tagged as anoun, pronounced [kul̪ˈt̪iβ̞os].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 14981, this pair ranks #281,966 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cultivar vs cultivos

Shared letters: ciltuv. Private to "cultivar": ar. Private to "cultivos": os.

"cultivar" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "cultivos" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cultivarccultivar · clutivar · culitvar · culltivar · cultiavr · cultibar · cultivarr · cultivra
  • cultivosccultivos · clutivos · culitvos · culltivos · cultibos · cultiovs · cultivoss · cultivso

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cultivar" and "cultivos" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cultivar" is a verb and "cultivos" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "cultivar" or "cultivos" show up more?
"cultivos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,710 in our Spanish list, against #9,271 for "cultivar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cultivar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cultivos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #281,966 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cultivar" and "cultivos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cultivados vs cultivos". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #281,966 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list